And Beyond
by Kage kioku aji tenshi
Summary: He was a man out of time, they all knew that to be sure, what they didn't know is that he lost more than his time period, he lost his Home too, because Home wasn't always a place, sometimes, especially for people like them, Home was a person. Sequel To Forever, you might be able to read this without it though, as the author I can't tell and I don't have a Beta, so let me know.


Summary : He was a man out of time, they all knew that to be sure, what they didn't know is that he lost more than his time period, he lost his Home too, because Home wasn't always a place, sometimes, especially for people like them, Home was a person. Sequel To Forever, you might be able to read this without it though, as the author I can't tell and I don't have a Beta, so let me know if you have to read the other one to get this one Please and Thank You!

* * *

Clint liked to People Watch, it was one of the reasons that he liked to be up high, no one ever looked up, so he was never interrupted, leastwise not until Natasha had knocked him off of his perch that first time, it had been the beginning of a beautiful partnership, her on ground level, him up high, and Phil, Clint swallowed thickly, Phil had always been the spring that helped them bounce back.

But Clint had always People Watched, long before he met Phil or Natasha, or even Fury. People Watching at the Circus between shows had been a lot of fun, so many different people, so many different reasons to be at the Circus, and if the ones who had come for less than innocent purposes never left, well the Circus was long gone before the body was found.

Something was going on with the Captain, Clint couldn't figure out just what it was, but he watched the other.

* * *

Capcicle wasn't adjusting well to this century, Tony wasn't sure if it was the Gay people, or the Atheists that were freaking him out, although that didn't explain why the man had cried silently when Gay Marriage had passed in New York, wiping subtly at his eyes, trying to hide it, but Tony saw and Barton too, there wasn't much that Barton didn't see and he had cried a little too.

* * *

Natasha...Natalia... She went by so many names that sometimes she forgot which one she was supposed to be using.

She was used to people flinching away from her, like Tony did every now and again, not realizing that he did so, like Clint did when he heard a door open expecting it to be Phil coming to fill the gap made between them.

Rogers didn't flinch away, he moved towards her until he remembered; what he remembered Natasha was never sure but when he did he would stop and smile weakly at her before walking away.

* * *

Bruce liked Tony, liked the other Avengers well enough, but Tony, Tony was special, Tony wasn't afraid of The Other Guy, and that was nice.

Steve wasn't afraid of The Other Guy either, at least not in the way other people were, Steve was afraid of what The Other Guy could do that could harm other people, Bruce liked Steve, and if he was honest The Other Guy liked Steve too, enough at least to listen to him when he said something, especially when Cap gave him the order to Smash, The Other Guy really liked Steve then.

Steve never flinched away from The Other Guy, at least not that Bruce could remember, he wondered if it had anything to do with how he was before Serum, according to the files he had been small, The Other Guy might be the only thing that made Steve feel that small anymore.

"Brucie, guess what?" Tony's voice interrupted his thoughts.

'Time to entertain the Mad Man.' Bruce thought with a small smile.

* * *

Director Fury glanced through Agent Barton's and Agent Romanov's reports and sighed, he really hated paperwork, he also hated that Rogers had managed to somehow endear some of his best Agents to him in a manner of weeks.

He reached out to grab his coffee and took a sip only to find it cold, 'Damn, I hate my job.' He thought as he stood.

* * *

Steve hummed quietly as he made dinner, he hadn't asked what the others wanted to eat, if they didn't want it they could fend for themselves, though they rarely complained, not like Bucky. _~Spaghetti again, Stevie.~ He'd say with a wrinkled nose and Steve would smile and turn in Bucky's arms and press a kiss to Bucky's lips, ~I like Spaghetti. ~ he'd whisper in return._

Steve sighed softly as he drained the noodles and added the sauce, the way the others had reacted to the Spaghetti when he had first served it one would have thought that they were dying of hunger, but maybe it wasn't hunger for food that had made them act like they were starving.

When Steve thought about it none of them had had any type of stable home, Steve had come from war, Tony, well from what he guessed about Tony Howard had been an absent parent to put it politely, Natasha had been trained to kill at a young age, Bruce had been on the run, and Clint, Clint had grown up in a Circus.

Steve knew that it was probably the first homemade meal that the others could remember having, and while he didn't mind giving them that it made him think of Bucky and Home.

It was hard to believe that he would never go Home again, Home was the Fourth of July on the beach, cuddled close to Bucky, Home was the drafty apartment they had shared, Home was a flimsy tent in the middle of Nazi Germany, Home was Bucky smiling at him when he caught him wearing his shirt in the morning, Home was Bucky lifting him up bridal style and carrying him to their bedroom, and Home, Home was just Bucky… Bucky's laugh, Bucky's bad jokes, and Bucky's smile.

Steve looked at the red covered noodles and thought about dumping it in the trash, because Bucky's blood was red and he must have bled out on the snow when he hit the bottom of the ravine, and the red covered the white snow and Bucky was gone.

Steve brushed the tears from his eyes, his Home was gone, gone, gone, forever. (AN: I actually planned on ending it here but the words ran away from me as they so often do.)

* * *

Clint liked to People Watch, but watching the Captain hurt, it hurt in the same way watching Natasha hurt only deeper, because Natasha had him to turn to, Natasha had known that death was always a possibility, Natasha wasn't out of time either, she had familiar faces, familiar places, and memories to hang on to, memories that weren't all of hiding, of secrecy, of lies and covers.

Some of their memories with Phil had just been them, being them, Clint, Natasha, and Phil, out to the movies, out to dinner, out to somewhere, holding hands and laughing.

Watching the Captain made Clint wonder who he had lost and how, it made his heart ache because the Captain hadn't just died, he had been thrown adrift in a world so different from his own and without a raft to keep from drowning.

Watching Steve Hurt, so Clint didn't Watch the Captain anymore.

* * *

Steve set dinner on the table _Three more chairs than could fit at their table, three more plates than they had in their cupboard, three more people than had lived in their little rundown apartment._

Steve closed his eyes and looked away from the table, sturdy and solid something, with too many chairs. Steve watched the others file into the room as he slipped out; hoping none of them would follow him as he climbed the stairs to his room and shut the door asking JARVIS to tell the others that he was sleeping.

* * *

JARVIS watched silently as Captain Rogers once again cried himself into a fitful sleep; he was an AI, one with more Bells and Whistles than most but still an AI. He was used to Tony, calling Miss Potts when he had once again drunk himself into a stupor. Clint was easy figure out, 'There is an Air shaft that would be conductive to your current mission.' As was Miss Romanov, 'All is well and Captain Rogers has just finished dinner.' Dr. Banner was like Tony, 'It would be wise to put your current project on hold; Captain Rogers has just made Chocolate Cake.'

And yet the Captain himself wasn't easy to help, he flinched whenever he spoke to him when he was alone so JARVIS stopped, he never asked for anything and JARVIS watched him wake from nightmares reaching out for someone and crying out, he never heard the Name but he knew it was a Name. Other nights Captain Rogers woke slowly, reaching out for someone that wasn't there and never had been, he would always pat as far down as he could reach before opening his eyes and whispering the Name in a sleep slurred voice before his face would crumple as he remembered that whoever the Name was, he was long gone.

So Jarvis did the only thing he could, he looked through every reel of World War II, searched every database that had mention of Captain America and found one Genuine Picture of Him and his Howling Commandos before their last mission, if it had Howard and a young woman in it that didn't matter, all that mattered was that Captain America was smiling with his arm around another young man who was leaning too close to be appropriate for the time, and if JARVIS bought it at Auction with Tony's Credit Card, well it was only Tony's fault for building him with the ability to order things for the others. And if it came addressed to Captain Steven Rogers, who never ordered anything, blame Tony for it.

And if Captain Rogers framed the picture and set it on the bedside table and pressed a kiss to the man he held in the Photo every night, the only witness was an AI and he refused to say a word.

One Relic to another, Captain Rogers of the Past and JARVIS of the Future.

* * *

~Okay so, um, yeah This is a sequel to Forever, but I suppose it could be read alone. And don't ask about JARVIS, I have no Idea where that came from. But I like it… let me know if you think it's weird, please.


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